Alot through a Little
by AllTheWrongLoves
Summary: things change, and there hard to keep track of, but there's nothing better than seeing the changes because of a bloody shin.


***sob sob* my school is being a jerk! Since we're testing, my teacher recommends not writing or drawing on any paper cuz they shred it! IGETSOFRICKINBORED! Anyway, because of this I had plenty of time to go to la-la land and thought up another story! I don't own naughty dog's characters.**

It was just a scrape. But it hurt like hell! Nate limped onto the fire escape and flung himself through his bedroom window, biting his lip when scorching pain shot through his shin. He should have known better than to run by that abandoned building; but it seemed like a short cut so he went anyway. What happens? A sharp piece of rusty medal bar slits across the skin of his shin when he runs by. The day he decided to wear basketball shorts too! He dropped onto his bed with a grunt. He stripped his converses and socks off and cradled his shin in his cupped hand, hissing when his dry, dirty hands brushed against the sensitive flesh. "Crap!" God it burned. If he were a normal kid he'd probably be crying-but he wasn't. He had gotten plenty of bad scratches in Cartagena, and even more his first few months with Sully.

They were never as deep as this one though; they would show signs of bleeding, go pink around the edges and then fade away. The worst one he got was a small row of them from someone's possessed dog. But this-this SLICE across his shin would definitely leave a scar. He lifted a hand from the scrape and saw a straight steady line of blood. He definitely needed to put some disinfectant on. Nate listened for any signs of his mentor being home, remembering him saying something about going to the store. There was no sound from the TV, no clunking of cabinets, seemed like he had beat him home.

With his inspection confirmed Nate darted out of his room, trying to ignore the burning that increased as he walked. He was just halfway through the hall when the door slammed closed. Oh hell. He froze for just a second before he whipped around to rush back to his room in hopes that his mentor hadn't seen him.

"Nice try, kid." Sullys' amused voice reached his ears. Nate closed his eyes and pursed his lips. Damn. He must really be desperate if he thought that would work. He was tempted to keep it up-go hide in his room and pretend to just show up…but he knew Sully wouldn't fall for it. So he slumped his shoulders and peaked around the corner, seeing Sully's hip resting against the couch arm and a plastic bag in hand.

"Hey Sully." He greeted as casually as he could, keeping his shin out of sight. Why was he keeping it hidden? Sully had told him a hundred times to watch out for glass or medal on his little treads and he really didn't want Sully giving him a lecture about being more careful. The middle aged man raised an eyebrow at his usually snarky protégés' strange behavior. He dropped the bag onto the couch and walked towards Nate, who started to squirm.

"Hey kid. I was expectin' you to be home a little later." The teen shrugged. If he could just escape to his bedroom and find a jumbo band aid…

"Eh. Got a little bored." Sully nodded with a smirk, looking the teen right in the eyes in that way that always says 'I know better' with dark grey eyes.

"And bleeding gets you bored?" Nate gawked at his mentor, about to ask why when he saw the couple of drops of blood from his rush across the hall. Busted. He turned back to Sully sheepishly. The man moved a finger in a 'come here' motion.

"C'mon kid. Let me see." out of habit from the look on his mentors' face, he flipped around to run to his bedroom, but groaned in embarrassment and frustration when one of Sullys' strong arms wrapped around his waist and snatched him off the floor before he even made it a foot. "Argh! Sully!" He knew from many other times that fighting the arm wasn't going to do him any good, so he slumped his shoulders again as Sully practically carried him to the bathroom. You know, it wouldn't be so humiliating if it weren't for the fact Sully could do it so easily! Nate knew he was a little too light, but always ignored it until stuff like this happened. It wasn't his fault! He ate plenty, but his daily runs probably kept up with his metabolism.

Sully plopped him down on the bathroom counter and pulled up his leg to examine the one slice on his shin. Nate sat perfectly still, never comfortable with the feel of his mentors' hands. There had been plenty of times that he would grab his arm or face to look at a scratch, plenty of noogies, even a few awkward hugs, but no matter what it seemed the not so foreign feel of Sullys' calloused hands made him want to flinch away. Maybe it was the ever shrinking paranoia of the man suddenly turning on him, like a few nightmares he had, or maybe it was the opposite; maybe it was because he was frightened that he was starting to not mind the touch, that he WAS getting comfortable with it. That's what mainly surprised him; one day he was ready to bolt if Sully made one wrong move-the next he was letting the man wrap an arm around his shoulder. In a couple months it would be a year and a half that he has been with the fortune hunter and everyday things seemed to get smoother…easier. But there was always a lingering question in his mind. What really made Sully save him and take him in?

"Kid, what were you doin' out there?" Sully scolded as he removed his hands from Nate's shin to pull out peroxide from the cabinet.

"Just running." The teen muttered, earning a scoff from the man while he dabbed peroxide on a smooth rag.

"'just running doesn't slice your skin open out of nowhere. Where were you running?" Nate didn't answer right away, hissing when the cleansing chemical seeped into the raw flesh, killing any sign of bacteria in its sickening sizzling way. Sully dug through the cabinets in search of gauze.

"I ran across the rim of an abandoned building." The teen muttered with slight guilt.

"And?"

"I...didn't notice a sharp rod sticking out of the window." Sully sighed and shut the cabinet door, a fresh roll of gauze in his hands. He gave a sharp look-not one of anger but something else Nate couldn't name. Concern? Worry? It still made him duck his head like a five year old caught in a cookie jar. He stiffened from reflex when one of Sullys' hands held his ankle while the other got the gauze started.

"You gotta be more careful. You're lucky this wasn't very deep." Sully was expecting some kind of smart ass response, but there was silence. Little did he know his protégé was studying his face, so when he looked up from the teens' leg and met big blue eyes, wide open, he was a little startled. It was the first time the kid dared to look him in the eye first. Sully had attempted many times to make eye contact, but he always looked down the moment they met eyes.

"Kid?" the question Nate desperately wanted to ask was right on the tip of his tongue, yet at the same time it wouldn't come out. He dropped his eyes down to stare at his lap as he did the best thing he could.

"Thanks Sully." There was an undertone to the thank you, an extra meaning to the thank you for more than just the shin. Sully let the smallest smile creep up as he set his hand on the teens' head.

"Sure kid." He murmured, happy to see a smile appear on Nate as well. He slipped off the counter with a sigh and followed Sully into the kitchen, perfectly content watching his mentor make them some burgers. Because at that moment, he realized that Victor Sullivan was someone he could trust.

**Hurrah! I luv little Nate! I luv him to pieces! Ahahaha! I'm so high on sugar right now! XD goodbye!**


End file.
